


gemstone boys

by fiatc



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Catholic school AU, M/M, This is cute, theres not a lotta catholic school mentioned tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-05
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-30 05:33:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5152151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiatc/pseuds/fiatc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>tyler's voice echoes through the abandoned choir room at three am on a weekend. gemstone boy hears a noise and listens. one of many catholic school tales that include tea kettle smiles and blue purple bruises and rose quartz thighs and bad gay best friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	gemstone boys

“have you got color in your cheeks?”

when tyler sings he sings quietly, mouth opening short distances up and down and never out. his voice is whispery and eerie and light and deep at the same time and it makes you want to stop and listen. it’s almost ethereal, it feels like you’re intruding on some sort of magical being, like a car crash that you can’t turn away from. he’s been getting into a band called the arctic monkeys as of late. he won’t admit that he has a big dorky crush on alex turner’s voice, on how deep it is and how he can feel it in his core when his speakers are turned up so loud he can’t hear The Voices In His Head.

“do you ever get the fear that you can’t shift,”

tyler loves singing, he loves it a lot. he’d probably drop out of school to sing in some fucking punk band if his mom let him. his mom doesn’t know about The Voices In His Head. good thing they leave when she’s around. being with his mom and singing are the two things that make tyler feel as good as flicking the tip of his cherry-red lighter and seeing how long he can press the flame into his skin until he cries.

“the type that sticks around like something in your teeth?” 

tyler sings quietly as soon as one of the earbuds is inserted into his ear. the other one dangles at his hip and he shoves his phone in his back pocket with shaking hands. his cigarettes are in his other pocket and his boots are unlaced and the top button of his flannel is unbuttoned and he looks like utter shit. he realizes he forgot to brush his hair this morning. not that it makes a difference.

“and some aces up your sleeve?” 

tyler loves the word ace. his friend mark is asexual and makes ace puns at school in between drags of smoke and laughs and tea-kettle smiles and eye crinkles. sometimes tyler’s friends are nice, at least when they don’t ignore him or dismiss The Voices. his friend jenna believes him, though. jenna tried to make tyler dye his hair blue to match hers once. tyler thinks she enjoys having a gay best friend, even a shitty one who wears combat boots and has far too many piercings. he’s a shitty gay best friend.

“have you no idea that you're in deep,”

josh dun is the only kid at school who tyler would like to be friends with and isn’t. he’s not popular like tyler. he doesn’t sing like tyler. but josh dun is nice, and smart, and doesn’t throw himself at tyler’s feet in a frenzy of eyeliner and tight jeans like most of the gay boys in school. (tyler isn’t a virgin but he doubts the same is true for josh. maybe that’s what’s so appealing about the kid.) josh dun has hair the color of tyler’s thighs late at night and the color of tyler’s favorite word, ruby, ruby red. tyler would call josh his gemstone boy if josh was his to hold at night.

“i’ve dreamt about you nearly every night this week.”

tyler’s voice is getting louder and he closes his eyes. he’s sitting on the piano bench in the choir room that nobody uses anymore (not since brendon accidentally burned a hole in the ceiling trying to blow fire with vodka while sneaking in at night) and fiddling with his thumbs. he doesn’t hear the squeak of gemstone boy’s sneakers or see him stop in the doorway, a confused expression on his face and curly tendrils of red falling into his eyes. it’s for the best because if tyler could see him then, with his wild night eyes at three pm and sleeveless shirt and his beautiful fucking tattoo he’d die.

“how many secrets can you keep?”

josh smiles a eye-crinkling smile almost like mark’s (but better) and puts a hand on his hip to watch the boy with the earbud sing. his heavy feet tap out a light rhythm and his eyes flutter. the boy’s voice is melodic and echoes in the huge room. he slides across the piano dramatically without opening his eyes. when he trips and falls he takes out his phone, grumbling, and freezes when the dim blue light illuminates a figure in the doorway.  
“um. hi.” tyler is mortified fuckfuckfuckfuck.

“cause theres this tune i found that makes me think of you somehow,”

josh’s big eyes glow in a romanticised fashion. they’re near black in this darkness. in the perfect light they glow like tiny emeralds. gemstone boy. he wears the school uniform. nobody wears it anymore. you dont even have to, the teachers are far past caring. tyler wears flannels and jeans and boots to school, nobody bats an eyelash. its probably more common to see someone without a uniform than with one. tyler likes this about josh. he’s also extremely cute so it helps. the Voices in his Head whisper to yell and scream and scare him away, that he has to, but tyler doesnt wanna lose gemstone boy, he cant lose someone else. so he says, “hi.”

“and i’ll play it on repeat,”

tyler: “i’m tyler.”  
josh: “i know,”  
josh: “i’m josh.”  
tyler: “i know.”  
they sit silent for a moment and tyler bites his rose quartz lip and pats the piano bench. he sits down and so does josh. gemstone boy’s legs are crossed and he’s staring down and an airbrushed pink tint is rising in his cheeks.  
“my name’s tyler and i’m gay,” starts the boy with rose quartz hands and thighs, and josh says, “i know,” and tyler smiles. “is there anything you don’t know?” and josh smiles too and the purple bruises under his pretty pyrite eyes are obvious. he doesnt respond.

“and i’ll play it ‘till i fall asleep,”

“i don’t know your last name, favorite movie, tv show, book, song.” josh says finally, squinting playfully and swiping a bloodred curl out of his eyes. “true,” says tyler. “do you want to know?” josh replies, “no.” and kisses him. tyler is of course thrilled. The Voices are even gone for a moment. it’s an explosion of amethyst and diamond and ruby and emerald and of course rose quartz and unlaced boots and blood colored hair and tea kettle smiles and swollen lips and too-big catholic school uniforms and skinny legs and holding hands and youth and happiness and freedom. josh is smiling sadly when he pulls away, and tyler doesnt know why he pulls away, he’s dazed, and grinning, and tugging on his own short hair and swirling his lip ring with his tongue. that was josh, who doesnt throw himself at tyler, josh, gemstone boy, josh, straight-a catholic student, josh, whom he’d fallen for from afar. tyler likes to watch. he watches people, in the mall, likes to see what makes them special, interesting. he watches places, he watches things. gemstone boy gets up with a sheepish smile and a tug on his own ruby curls and leaves silently. and tylerjust watches.

“spilling drinks on my settee.”


End file.
